


Inmate A-514

by thnxrose



Category: Batman - Fandom, DC Comics, Gotham - Fandom, Nygmobblepot - Fandom
Genre: AU, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Season 2 AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:59:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14317047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thnxrose/pseuds/thnxrose
Summary: au where ed, ozzie, jerome and barbara were all in arkham together during s2. inspired by @/ chaoticxlovers on ig





	1. Chapter 1

Oswald had spent another week in solitary, just for bumping into a guard. Sure, he had refused to apologise, but that wasn’t cause for this level of punishment. It wasn’t _his_ fault that the guard had fallen and sprained his arm. They clearly just had it out for him. They should hire officers who weren’t so breakable.

He was let out just before lunch, so he met the new guy earlier than he otherwise would have. He noticed him immediately, as soon as he entered the room. He tried to convince himself that was normal; when you spend all of your time staring at the same few faces, you’re bound to notice a new one. But his eyes lingered on him, for far longer than they should have, keeping him frozen in the doorway. He was sitting on a table, surrounded by the less... stable inmates. However, he was seemingly holding his own. He was surviving in a place where few could. Oswald tried firmly not to stare at him as he hobbled across the canteen, ignoring a strong impulse to go up and introduce himself. He slid into his usual seat across from Barbara, earning a small wave as her eyes never left the pages of her magazine. Oswald being in solitary wasn’t anything uncommon, so there was no need for her to make a fuss over his return. Still, he would have appreciated her asking how he’d been. Even a hello would have sufficed.

Rolling his eyes at the lack of affection, he turned his gaze back to the new guy, resting his chin on his hand and trying to look as if he was simply bored. If Barbara realised he was checking him out, he’d never hear the end of it.

Oswald felt as if he had met him once before, but he couldn’t quite place it. He was tall, but had not quite grown into his height. He had very angular, precise features, tall cheek bones and bright eyes. Thick-rimmed glasses were positioned high up on his nose, and a shock of scruffy brown hair fell over his forehead. The uniform he wore actually fit him, which was a rare treat in this place.

A-514 was written in red across his pocket, telling Oswald a few more things about the him. “A” meant that he was classified as being as dangerous as they come, the Arkham equvilant of a VIP. An “A” on your chest meant that the guards treated you just that extra bit worse, and looked out for any reason at all to punish you. As for the numbers, well, most people thought they were meaningless. There were certainly not 514 inmates in Arkham, let alone that many “A” class ones. To the civilians of Gotham, the numbers were random, another sign of the little funding given to the prison. Who cares what number the criminal gets, as long as they’ve got one in the first place, right?

Oswald thought differently though. He had figured out months ago that each number corresponded to the person’s initials. His own number, for instance, was A-153. “O” is the 15th letter of the alphabet, and “C” is the third. Sure, he might have been looking too much into it, but Barbara’s was A-211, and Jerome’s was A-1022, so it was too much of a coincidence. He had felt proud of himself for figuring it out, for gaining just a little bit of power in his current powerless state. And now he had another person to support his theory, this mysterious new guy. E.N. He wondered what it stood for.

“Hello? Oswald? I said what do you think about this dr- oh no.“

Oswald snapped out for his daze immediately. He turned to face Barbara, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face and failing miserably.

“Hmm? Oh sorry I was lost in ah, thought. The red dress? Absolutely stunning, I can have it sent out and ready for you when we get out of here. Anyway-“

Barbara sighed and folded up her magazine, giving him a deadpan look.

“Don’t even think about it Ozzie.”

He avoided her gaze, staring at his shoes as if trying to burn a hole through them.

“Th-think about what?”

“Banging the new guy. Don’t give me that look, I saw you eye-fucking him across the room. Let me tell you now, it is not gonna work out between the two of you; he’s a total nut-job.”

“Isn’t everyone here?”, he retorted, fighting back the blush that was coming to his cheeks, “Maybe you just want him for yourself.”

Barbara raised her eyebrows higher than Oswald had thought was humanly possible and picked back up her magazine.

“Oh fuck off Oswald, you know he’s not my type.”

Yeah, your type is ex-boyfriends who don’t want you back, he thought. He sighed, knowing he wasn’t much better. He had only met this guy _maybe_ once before, and his first thought was if he could sleep with him. Not exactly the healthiest possible relationship. He crossed his arms and lay his head down ontop of them, resigning himself to another boring day.

“His name’s Edward Nygma!”

A faint alarm bell went off in Oswald’s mind at that name. He turned his head to see Jerome, sitting beside him with a smirk on his face. Smugness radiated off of him. He knew something Oswald didn’t and was dangling it in front of him like bait.

“Hey J, how was solitary?”, Barbara asked, tearing out a coupon for a free hairdo.

“Just dandy Babs, thanks for asking.”

Oswald’s mouth dropped open in shock. He turned back to her, betrayal plain on his face.

“You ask _him_ how solitary was? Really Barbara?”

She examined the coupon before shoving it in her pocket and returning to her reading.

“What? He remembered my birthday, you didn’t.”

“That was months ago, I barely knew you! Look that’s not important now, I need to know more about.. Look, Jerome tell me about the new guy.”

Jerome furrowed his brow and pursed his lips, a mockery of thinking it over. He stroked an imaginary beard, pretending to be deep in thought. Oswald wanted to smack his head against the table, but there were other ways to handle this.

“Tell me and I’ll let you have my deserts for a week.”

“Deal.”

Oswald leaned forward, and even Barbara looked away from her magazine. Information was the currency here, even between friends. Nothing ever came freely.

“As I said, the name’s Edward Nygma. Killed his girlfriend, buried her in the woods, and tried to blame the whole thing on old Jimmy Gordon. He used to be the forensics guy, worked for-“

“He worked for the GCPD!”, Oswald exclaimed.

Barbara and Jerome shared a look.

“You knew him?”, they said in unison.

“Uhh, well, we met. Once. At the GCPD. I _knew_ I had seen him somewhere before, but I just couldn’t remember where. And now he’s here! So that means... he killed...”

He deflated a little as he realised that Edward, the man who had introduced himself with a riddle, who had looked so innocent and kind, was seemingly just like him.

Jerome gave him a sharp pat on the back, and Oswald desperately wanted to strangle him.

“Heyyy, never mind Oz. So Gotham swallowed up another harmless civilian and made him into a class “A” monster. So what? At least he’s available now, he took care of that himself!”

Jerome chuckled away at this seemingly hilarious turn of events. Barbara looked at him and rolled her eyes, before turning her attention back to Oswald, who looked a little shell-shocked.

“Hey, listen to me. It’s nothing to do with you that this guy turned out like the rest of us. Even the purest souls can’t live in filth all their lives and still expect to be squeaky clean at the other end of it.”

Oswald nodded, as if trying to convince himself of what she said. It was the truth, but he had never felt more disappointed in the city he lived in. Seemingly, no one could escape.

The bell rang, signaling less than 5 minutes left of lunch and jerking him out of his thoughts.

“You should go talk to him”, Barbara said suddenly. He stared at her confused, wondering why she had changed her mind. Especially after learning Edward had killed his last conquest.

“Not now, obviously, he’s surrounded by the maniacs. I’ll see if I can call in a favour, get the two of you on mop duty.”

“Nothing could be more romantic!”, Jerome giggled.

Oswald ignored him and smiled at Barbara, hoping she understood how much it meant to him. She allowed a slight grin in return and then flounced off, leaving her magazine there as always. There would be a new one waiting for her at dinner. Jerome winked at him and followed her out of the room, splitting at the corridor and going off to their seperate cells.

Oswald sat there for a moment, allowing a little hope to bubble up inside him. Surely one good thing could happen in this awful place.


	2. Chapter 2

By the next morning, Barbara had everything sorted out. She strolled into breakfast, her besotted bodyguard in tow, and took a seat next to Oswald, who always got there first. He was eating what was probably advertised as porridge, but certainly wouldn’t pass for it now.

“So, Ozzie. I’m happy to report that thanks to, my friend, here, I’ve learned a few more things about your upcoming boy-toy.”

Oswald pushed the bowl of beige sludge away and spun around eagerly to face Barbara. Finally, some news.

”Well? What do I need to know?”

Barbara tilted her head a little mockingly and tutted, a fake pout souring her face.

”Ah ah ah. First, my payment. This is juicy info, but for a friend, the usual will do.”

Oswald sighed and got up from the table, waddling over to a young guard near the door. He whispered something in his ear and then looked back to Barbara, who was staring back at them with an exaggerated look of hopefulness. The guard couldn’t help but smile at her. He turned to look at Oswald and nodded stiffly at him. Oswald was sent back off to his seat, and he slid into it with a smile on his face. That didn’t always work.

”He says he can get you the shampoo and conditioner by tomorrow, but the perfume he’ll have to order in, so give it a week or two.”

Barbara smiled widely, happy to have gotten her way.

“Thank you so much Oswald. Your funds are irreplaceable. Now, let me return the favour. The big guy here says he was sitting near the maniacs at lunch, and heard Nygma talking to them. He says he sounded very smart, tricking them into thinking he was doing what they wanted. I mean they’re all idiots, so it can’t be that hard, but still. Not entirely unimpressive. Also just before breakfast this morning, he saw him talking to Jim. He was in for some “police business”. Apparently it was a short conversation. Probably about Ed getting his revenge, Jim will pay for this, you know, the usual.”

Oswald found himself relating to Edward even more. He would love to get even with Jim for leaving him locked in here, letting him take the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. Well, didn’t commit alone. But seriously, Arkham was a dangerous place. Unless Barbara had warned him off of it, he would have taken Strange’s “treatment”, thinking he’d just have to fake a few psych evals and he’d be home free. But of course, that wasn’t the case. 

“Thank you Barbara. That is very interesting to know. Now, would you mind sending away your friend here, I have a few other matters I’d like to discuss.”

“Sure thing Ozzie. Go on big boy, shoo!”

The other inmate plodded away, off to sit with the others who possessed but a single brain cell. Barbara picked up her magazine of the morning, Elle, and flicked through it for any more coupons. There were none. She pouted at her loss.

“Ok then Oswald, what did you want to talk about?”

“Ed of course!”, he exclaimed, unaware of how loud he was.

Barbara gave him a confused look.

“Then why the hell did I have to send whatisname away?”

Oswald sighed, hating having to explain things.

“My... personal interest in Ed must be kept confidential. At least for now. There are people in here who would try to use him against me, or would feed him lies so he’d never come near me. Plus, I’d never hear the end of it.”

Barbara smirked, amused, and turned the page to reveal the next model, in clothes she only wished she could wear.

“Ok, you have a point. I’m assuming you want a progress update on the mopping thing?”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

“Well, I have almost everything sorted. He’s been scheduled for the evening shift today after dinner, and I just need to negotiate a swap for you. I’m pretty sure old One-Eyed Harry would do it, providing you get him some cigarettes.”

“Ok easy. Tell him he will be provided for. Now, what corridors do you have us doing?”

“D, of course, cause there’s the least guards there. That way you two won’t be caught if you decide to-“

Oswald raised his hand to stop whatever she was going to say next, and Barbara simply grinned. They both knew what the next word out of her mouth would have been.

“Well well well, what did I miss?”

Jerome slid onto the bench in front of them with a fresh bowl of strawberries, offering them one each. It still puzzled Oswald as to how he got ahold of them, and he wasn’t willing to pay Jerome’s ridiculous price for the information, so he supposed he’d never find out. He accepted his strawberry greatfully, reveling in its sweetness. As he was eating it, he felt a slight prickle at the back of his neck, his instincts telling him that someone was watching. He spun around quickly, catching the eye of Edward Nygma, who was sitting alone. He was looking at the strawberries like a tailor would look at a piece of golden cloth, and Oswald desperately wanted to give one to him. He spun back around to Jerome.

“Give me another strawberry.”

“Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie. You know the rules. One-“

“Yeah, one each I get it. But this one’s not for me.”

He looked pointedly over his shoulder to where Ed was sitting, still staring unashamedly at the bowl of fruit. Jerome sighed and handed another strawberry to Oswald, knowing he’d find away to get one if he didn’t manage to convince him. Besides, this way he was owed a favour.

“Go get ‘em, tiger”, Barbara chuckled, her lips stained red from the fruit.

Oswald nodded slowly and stood up, ignoring his shaky legs. He hobbled quickly across the canteen, trying desperately not to attract any attention. Thankfully, the short trip to the other table was an uneventful one, and the only attention he received was Ed’s. The man openly stared at him as he crossed the checkered floor, still looking into his eyes when he stopped beside him. Oswald swallowed, his mouth going dry, and his mind going blank. He tried to think of something, anything, to say but his mind seemed to have abandoned him, focusing entirely on staring into Ed’s eyes. His eyes were the shade of sandalwood, just bright enough to shine in the shadows that plagued every room in this place. Oswald was frozen in place, locked in Ed’s persistent gaze. It seemed that neither man knew what to say. A shout from the other side of the canteen snapped Oswald out of it, and he simply dropped the strawberry onto Ed’s plate before walking very quickly away. He could still feel Ed’s eyes on the small of his back, the heat threatening to engulf him. He practically fell into his seat beside Barbara, hiding behind her. Jerome was openly laughing at his failed attempt to woo Ed, clearly thinking it was worth loosing the strawberry. Barbara on the other hand, was annoyed.

“Oswald, what the hell was that? You couldn’t even say one word to the guy! What happened?”

Oswald had turned scarlet at this point and was gripping the ends of his sleeves with his hand, searching for some form of comfort.

“I, umm, I don’t know what happened, I just- froze, I just stood there, I stood there staring into his eyes, and I couldn’t think of a single thing to say, not a thing, so I gave him the strawberry and I just, ah, left.”

Barbara was not at all pleased.

“I don’t care, that was pathetic. I called in a favour for you, Ozzie, so you’d better fuck him. At least once! You need to be able to talk to the guy before this evening ok? I’m invested in this now, I wanna see what happens. You won’t be able to buy me enough perfumes to get out of this one.”

Oswald nodded mutely, still incredibly embarrassed. He didn’t know what had came over him, he just couldn’t speak. Something like this had never happened before. He had felt so powerlesss in the moment, like Ed was holding his entire world in his hands. Ughh, that was a ridiculous excuse. This couldn’t happen tonight, he couldn’t make a fool of himself again! Breathing deeply, he told himself that it was just a slip-up, and that everything would be fine later on. He took a spoonful of the sad porridge, repeating the mantra in his head, still feeling Ed’s gaze on his back.


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the day was probably one of the longest periods of time Oswald had ever experienced. Each second seemed to tick by in slow-motion, every clock surely lying to him about how much time had passed. By the time dinner finally rolled around, he could hardly keep still, looking back at Ed every other moment. It was a new kind of torture. 

Barbara spent all of dinner trying to coach him, giving him conversation starters, flirting techniques, and a little pot of Vaseline. Oswald had gone completely scarlet when she handed it to him, trying to refuse it but eventually relenting; she put it in his breast pocket with a smile and a wink. Jerome was another kind of annoying, listing off statistics about how many people get murdered on the first date, and constantly reminding him of the fact that they would be almost completely alone together. A very rare experience in prison. Oswald tried to tune both of them out, instead focusing on the sound of his heartbeat, which seemed to be getting faster by the minute. Truly, he was in the worst possible situation. 

The dinner bell eventually rang, scaring Oswald so much he nearly jumped out of his seat, Barbara hopped up quickly, wishing him luck before heading off to kitchen duty. Jerome was going to be stuck in the laundry room, so he took his sweet time before heading off as well. Finally, Oswald went up to section D to report for cleaning. Ed had left the canteen before him, but Oswald managed to beat him there. Ed arrived just a minute after he did, and Oswald had to try fiercely not to stare at him. Officer Menton gave Ed a stern look for being late, but there wasn’t much else he could do to him. During your first week in Arkham, getting lost was a given. Menton then handed them a mop and bucket each before striding off down the corridor, his footsteps making squeaking sounds as they hurried away. There wasn’t much they could do with cleaning equipment, so they were pretty much left to their own devices. This was either going to be great, or absolutely terrible.

As soon as Menton rounded the corridor, there was silence. Surely a conversation must happen, but neither of them knew what to say. Oswald stuck his mop into his bucket resolutely, deciding not to jump in too early. He didn’t want to seem desperate. For the first few minutes, the only sound was the sloshing of water against the broken tiles. Oswald could feel Ed staring at him as he mopped, and hated how much he wanted to meet his gaze. But he kept his back turned, focusing on the floor, until-

“Why did you give me that strawberry, Mr Penguin?”

Oswald turned immediately, almost dropping his mop in the process. Ed was looking at him with a mix of curiosity and caution, like one might look at a wild cat. Oswald took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

”Well, I ah, saw you looking at them and thought you might want one. You’re new, and you needed a friend. A real friend, not those imbeciles you sat with yesterday.”

“You’re right about that, they were imbeciles. Insane imbeciles however, so they did present a slight challenge.”

“Nothing you couldn’t handle, I’m sure.”

Ed looked at him a little strangely when he said that, but Oswald couldn’t figure out why.

“Indeed. Might I ask however, _why_ you decided to help me? I mean, I’m not exactly a powerful friend to have. There was no real gain to be had from befriending me.”

Oswald stared hard at his mop, not wanting to blush. He couldn’t tell Ed the real reason he had been so kind to him, at least, not yet. He’d just have to alter the truth.

“It always pays off to be nice. At first, if not continually. It wasn’t a great sacrifice for me, and look what I received out of it. A cleaning partner who can actually hold a conversation! Besides... I know you, Ed.”

The corner of Ed’s mouth curled up and something glinted in his eyes. He leaned on his mop, lowering himself down and looking straight at Oswald.

”You remember! I thought you wouldn’t; we did only meet once.”

”Well, you’re very memorable.” 

“As are you, Mr Penguin.” 

Oswald chuckled a little at his old name. It had been so many months since he’d heard it. He put his mop back in the bucket, knowing the floor would never get any cleaner.

”You don’t have to call me that. No one does anymore.” 

Ed looked a little taken aback at this. He had seemingly been under the impression that Oswald still had a foothold in the underworld. That made Oswald smile a little. Ed still had some naivety, thinking that nine months in a hell hole like this wouldn’t wipe out any and all influence one might have had. It was nice of him to have so much faith. 

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments, as Ed twirled the mop around ineffectively, seeming to be mulling something over. He looked Oswald up and down, as if sizing him up, not unlike a shark eyeing his next prey. But Oswald himself was a predator, and he met Ed’s gaze easily. The taller man grinned. 

“Then what _should_ I call you?” 

Oswald thought for a moment.

“Well, you can call me Oswald, if you’d like. My friends do. Well some call me Ozzie, if you can believe it, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”

This earned a chuckle from Ed, making his glasses slip down his face just slightly. Oswald’s breath caught in his throat, but he tried to act natural. Ed smiled at him, a proper smile, and held his hand out for him to shake.

”Nice to meet you. My name’s Edward Nygma.” 

Oswald grasped it with both hands, loving the warmth beneath his skin.

”Oswald Cobblepot. Likewise.”

Oswald held on for just a second too long before letting go, counting on the fact that Ed probably wouldn’t notice. He didn’t know him well enough yet to know that he noticed everything. 

“So... Oswald,” Ed began, sounding out each syllable as he tried out this new name, “You mentioned you have some other friends in here. I’d love it if you would introduce me, they’d surely be the only other people in this wretched place with any intelligence.” 

That caught Oswald off guard a little. He was usually very relucant to introduce old friends to new ones. Partly because he was worried they wouldn’t get along, but also because he was worried they’d get along too well, and just... let him go. But in that moment, Oswald would have probably stole the sun from the sky if it would please Ed, so he was prepared to try. 

“I’d be happy to Ed. You probably have heard of both of them anyway, they have a, um, reputation. How does tomorrow at breakfast sound? There might be another strawberry in it for you.”

”Well now, how could I pass up an offer like that?”

Oswald knew that this wasn’t meant to sound inviting or seductive or anything of the sort, but he couldn’t help reacting as if Ed had just asked him to- Well, he shouldn’t even be thinking that. He could hear Barbara’s voice in his ear, just begging him to say something, to make a damn move, but his feet were glued to the floor. He was going to play this off like nothing happened.

”Aha, well, once you meet Barbara and Jerome you might change your mind there, friend.”

Something flickered behind Ed’s eyes at Oswald’s response, but there was no other signal of what he was thinking.

“Barbara as in Barbara Kean? And Jerome as in Jerome Valeska?”

”The very same. Don’t worry, I’ll make them play nice.”

Oswald immediately realised how flirty he had sounded. Shit. Ed grinned at his discomfort, using this as an opportunity to get a little closer to him.

”What about you, Oswald?,” he asked, standing a little too close, “Do you play nice?”

Oswald almost shut down completely, unable to move or think with Ed so close to him. He was frozen, exactly like he was yesterday. He could see his own reflection in Ed’s glasses, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He could see the faded freckles across Ed’s nose and cheeks, marking happier times in the little sun Gotham gave. He could see each natural curl in Ed’s hair, making Oswald wonder why he would ever choose to straighten it. He saw Ed as a whole, the man who killed a policeman and his girlfriend in cold blood, and the man who had still believed in him, and wanted to be his friend. He’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t kill for him. 

And, under any other circumstances, he might have made good on that thought, as it was then that Officer Menton came strolling around the corner. 

“Hey! What the hell are you two doing? Get back to work!”

Ed stepped slowly away from Oswald, who let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. Both men picked up their mops, scrubbing uselessly at the floor for the next 20 minutes. Officer Mention never left them alone for even a second. Oswald could have argued that they weren’t doing anything wrong, but he knew that it wouldn’t have made any difference. Because he knew why he had really pulled them apart. The thing that the guards were most afraid of, no matter who it was, or how it happened, was two inmates being together.

Because then, in the darkness of the prison they had a light, they had someone to protect, they had something to loose. And that made them dangerous.

Oswald was for once inclined to agree with them.

 


End file.
